The “Doing ‘Diversity’: Making It or Faking It?” conference was the first-of-its-kind, all-day planning and discussion meeting devoted specifically to the issues of diversity representation and celebration here at California College of the Arts. The discussion panels laid the groundwork for the college to ratchet up its commitment to fostering greater diversity at CCA.

What do owls, drag queens, and poets have in common? It’s a tricky question, that is unless you’re attending frameline34, the 34th San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival—the world’s landmark showcase of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender cinema—where not one but two CCA Film Program faculty members have award-winning feature films in this year's program.

Alum Hong Sangsoo’s feature film Hahaha: What Do You See in Life, Darling? received top honors in the respected Un Certain Regard award category at the 63rd annual Cannes Film Festival. Sangsoo, whose film was one of 18 in this category and the third South Korean film in the overall selection, won over such celebrated filmmakers as French director Jean-Luc Godard (Film Socialisme).

Congratulations to CCA Graduate Program in Fine Arts alum George Pfau, who was just awarded The American Austrian Foundation’s Daisy Soros Prize for Fine Arts. The nonprofit, nongovernmental organization “seeks to bridge the knowledge gap by providing qualified individuals with fellowships to pursue postgraduate education in medicine, media, and culture.”

Congratulations to the students awarded
2010 Center for Art and Public Life Student Grants

Center Student Grants fund projects initiated by CCA students who are working with a community organization to use the arts, architecture, design, and writing to address issues of social justice, diversity, and community development.

This year seven student initiated projects were awarded funds with projects taking place in China, in support of Haiti, and throughout the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts Director Jens Hoffmann and the independent Brazilian curator Adriano Pedrosa have been named cocurators of the 12th International Istanbul Biennial to be held September 17–November 13, 2011. Hoffmann and Pedrosa are expected to announce a conceptual framework for the biennial in fall 2010.

CCA Students:

Apply for a Center for Art and Public Life Student Grant to help Haiti relief efforts. Special consideration will be given during the application review process for grant proposals addressing needs in Haiti.